An alternate title for this book could be, Writer Learns How to Manage Microsoft Word and is Thereby Able to Retain Sanity and Write Another Day.

I have worked as a technical writer for about a decade and before that was a typical (read naive), user of Microsoft Word, using it to write office memos, letters, resumes and other relatively unsophisticated documents. For several early years of using Word I was clueless in that I had no solid awareness of the can of worms under the hood that await the more ambitious professional writer.

Only when I started earning a living as a technical writer did I come to the realization that Word has so much more going on. Word has features galore, many of which are silently tucked away and only surface when the sophisticated user runs into an issue and starts digging/delving into all the dialog boxes submerged in the application. Peter G. Aitken and Maxine M. Okazaki put forth a book that attempts to save you from learning stuff the hard way. They identify numerous things to avoid and then define best practices when using Word.

When I came to write this review I thought hurray! There are earth people who have managed to tame this beast and they will share their silver bullets of survival and success for all us struggling humans now using Word. They have put forth a valiant effort.

The book states that there are features of Word that have unintended or undesired consequences or that work in unintuitive ways. I have to say I entirely relate to this evaluation and find it a real pain at times to have to massage a document to get it to behave. Life is challenging enough most days working with and managing people so I’d rather not have to expend a huge amount of precious energy wrestling with a document. Still, even the best technical writers likely spend time doing this on occasion.

Basically this book points out the imperfections of Word and ways to cope with many of them. Frankly, I find these authors graciously forgiving of this ubiquitous word processing application that has taken over the office everywhere I’ve been employed. One example of their generosity is this:

Chapter 1: Setting Word Options to Avoid Problems

Aitken and Okazaki recommend that when you, the professional writer, receive back a large document that someone has gone through with Track Changes on and made their edits/feedback, the professional writer is better off going back to their ORIGINAL document and manually incorporating these changes into it. Though I recognize how someone arrives at this preference (as this is a safer approach) to me it is maddening that we have a world where such a basic feature as Track Changes is so problematic as to be rendered Best To Avoid and the technical / medical writer is reduced to doing manual editing. I find this level of forgiveness accommodating for such a large and successful operation as Microsoft and I still long for a word processing application that has more stable features that one can use with confidence.

The book starts at an admirable spot—offering immediate relief to those who need to begin using the application and would like to get stuff established at the gate to circumvent the drama and tantrums Word is able to deliver. I entirely concur that technical writers want to (need to) have complete control over their documents and therefore the more choices you can define that put the writer in the driver’s seat the better.

The book has a good number of screen shots of dialog boxes that are critical in a book of this nature.

The authors have identified what they believe are the most salient (i.e., prone to bring you to the brink of agitance) parts of Word for a technical / medical writer and they are

Styles *

Page breaks

Document sections

Headers and footers *

Fields

Table of contents

Cross references

Automatic numbering *

Tables *

Templates *

This is a competent selection of naughty features in Word. I have placed an asterisk after those above topics I personally have found problematic until I managed to figure out the method behind the scene.

Because of the limits in scope this book undertakes, none of these ten categories listed above are covered in the depth some readers might prefer.

Chapter 2: Working with Styles and Formatting

Word has five style types:

Paragraph styles

Character styles

Linked styles

Table styles

List styles

Every technical writer needs to understand the distinctions of these styles so that they are applied in the manner in which they preform to your expectation. Normal is the base built-in Word style and is treated differently from other styles. Writers are advised to NOT base their styles on Normal. Wrong style assignments are the source of many formatting problems so the book demos how to view all styles used by setting the Style Area Width option to a value greater than the default of zero.

A style is a set of formatting that can be defined and applied to text in a document. Styles include font choices, indents, line spacing, borders, background shading, custom tabs and more.

It is important to know how to define and use a new style. This book leads the reader to make good choices to arrive at the desired result. A common definition (choice) of a style would be BodyText used for regular paragraphs in a typical document. When chosen, the writer also needs to choose the font and size of this style designation. The book recommends that when creating your new style, the style you designate is not based on an existing style nor do you want to base your new style on the Normal style. Aitken and Okazaki point out that “most aspects of style definitions are accessed via the Format button in the ‘create new style’ or ‘create new style from formatting’ dialog box.”

Did you know Word supports five kinds of tab stops? The book explains each.

Technical and medical writers find out that as a document becomes more complex (and lengthens) knowing how these features work and are related is necessary for a happy ending. Word’s default is to insert an automatic page break wherever they are needed. But writers can use a manual page break at any location. Page breaks and section breaks are under the Page Layout tab. Keep in mind, once you use a manual page break you will always get a page break at that location even if you move stuff around and a page break that once made sense no longer is appropriate. Often times a section break is the best choice when you are considering entering a manual page break.

Proper use of section breaks (of which there are four types to choose from) enables the document to accommodate certain things you want to do and still remain a cohesive whole.

Each section of your document can have these aspects defined as a new and independent part of the other document sections: page margins/paper size, orientation, and source/page borders/vertical alignment/headers and footers/columns/page and line numbering and footnotes and endnotes.

Chapter 4: Working with Fields and TOCs

Writers should understand how fields work or things can get messy on you. Fields are generally used to represent information in your document that is likely to change (date, TOC, pages). Fields do not update automatically (except for page numbers). Fields can be updated in several ways:

Right-click and select Update or click the field and press F9.

Select a block of text, right click, and select Update Field.

Press Ctrl+A to select ALL text in the document, then press F9. This will NOT update fields in headers/footers.

When you print the document, all fields are updated, but only if the Update Fields option is selected in the print category of the options dialog box.

Throughout the book are shaded boxes with lessons learned insights where the authors give tips that can keep your writing life more peaceful. Here is one: when you have a document where you are using Track Changes it is recommended you turn this OFF before updating your fields. Reason—a field update is treated as a deletion of the former field value and an insertion of the new one, and Track Changes will note each and every one, likely not something you would want done.

It is advised to have Field viewing be set to ‘Always’ which means All Fields are always shaded to enable awareness of where fields are in the document.

Document Properties

I had a job once where the boss was really big on having this information included so I’d recommend technical writers understand this area. There are two parts to document properties:

Basic properties – a panel appears on the ribbon that enables the insertion/naming of the most commonly used document properties to include: Author, Title, Subject, keywords, category, status and comments.

Advanced properties– a dialog box displays providing access to all document properties. Here you can define Custom Properties using the Custom tab. These are additional document properties one can identify: created by/client/date completed/Dept./destination/disposition/Division/document number/editor/forward to/group/language/mailstop/matter/office/owner/project/publisher/purpose/received from/recorded by/recorded date/reference/source/status/telephone number/typist.

Chapter 4 goes into a good deal of detail on table of contents including troubleshooting errors in a TOC.

Chapter 5: Using Cross-References and Automatic Numbering

Cross references have never been problematic for me but numbering can be tricky and ugly until you master it.

Types of cross-references:

A heading: Any paragraph formatted with one of Word’s built-in heading styles

A numbered item

A bookmark: Any text that has been defined as a bookmark

A footnote or endnote

A caption for a figure, table or equation that was created with the insert caption command.

Numbering is not for the faint of heart. Aitken and Okazaki write, “Word has powerful but often confusing numbering tools.” This is more polite than I’d rank the experience of getting numbering to work in a complex document, but it can be done. It is recommended that the writer create a paragraph style for numbered lists and use this style in place of Word’s default lists. The book proceeds to walk you through 12 steps that will accomplish a paragraph style for a numbered list.

Numbered Heading Levels are covered. This is alternatively known as outline numbered headings.

Assigning Outline Numbering to heading styles is an option for those who want it their way. The book lists steps to accomplish this approach.

How to number chapters in a book is discussed.

Chapter 6: Working with Tables

Aitken and Okazaki award this area of Word as the numero uno headache! Pages 107 through 138 attempt to relieve your angst from reading the proceeding sentence.

Covered here are: Table Fundamentals, Creating a Table, Navigating in Tables, Adding/Deleting Table rows and columns, Column width and row height, table options, merging and splitting cells, merging and splitting tables, formatting tables, table captions, working with Multipage tables, tables and page breaks, Pasting tables into Word and ending with Troubleshooting tables. In my experience this pretty much covers how to conquer tables, but I could be wrong as Word sometimes has a mind of its own.

Chapter 7: Understanding and Using Templates

Templates are discussed in Chapter 7 though not in the detail I was hoping for.

As with many aspects of Word management by a writer, styles are closely connected to Word templates so it behooves the writer to get informed about what a template really is and when and how to use them.

A basic skill of a technical writer is to know the workings of using templates. Every Word document is based on a template. The default template is the Normal template which contains only a few basic styles. It is advised to avoid basing any technical documents on the Normal template because it will prove to be too limited for your ultimate needs. A good template can make work smoother. These are the elements found in a template:

Styles

Boilerplate text

Custom toolbars

Macros

Shortcut key definitions

Auto text entries

Margins and other page setup options

Life can begin to resemble of bowl of rotten cherries when you are given a template from a client that was done without the requisite skills to create a working, viable template. You may find yourself morphing such a template to get it to perform as advertised. Aitken and Okazaki say that all that is required to create a good template is planning, care, experience and a thorough knowledge of Word. It is this last item that does make the creation of a Good template no minor feat. Some good caveats are put forth when working with templates.

Chapter 8: Additional Topics

Chapter 8 contains pearls of wisdom that just didn’t fit elsewhere in book: Pages 151 to 180. Covered in this chapter:

Customizing Word

Working with Track Changes

Using special characters and symbols

Inserting symbols

Linking to external data

Understanding Paste Special

Inserting data from Excel

Inserting and positioning Graphics

All are useful to understand these topics better and after reading this chapter you will know more and perform stronger with the application.

Chapter 9: Techniques—the Good the Bad and the Ugly

Chapter 9 concludes the book. It includes

Dos and Don’ts – I always find these kinds of lists fun to read

Being Smart about Backups – this is Very Important—remember that day you lost a document!!!!

Minimizing Problems – Yes, please enable me to minimize problems!!!!

Handy Keystrokes – who doesn’t like to save time and impress someone with a keystroke the other guy has never seen.

Ordering Information – how to get a copy of this book and the formats available to choose from Print/Kindle/Nook or as a PDF.

It is my wish that your work as a technical writer will be enhanced and improved after this book has entered your collection.

How come I’m not listed?

We’re sorry that some members and companies missed the opportunity to be listed in the STC Online Buyers Guide & Consultant Directory. We tried to give every vendor who has advertised or exhibited at the STC annual conference, and every member who considers themselves a consultant or independent contractor, the opportunity to be listed. We sent blast emails, announcements, and posted messages on the website. But it may be that the combination of hot weather and summer vacations prevented our messages about the Buyers Guide & Directory from being noticed.

Can I still get in?

We will be making corrections and one-time additions at the end of September. You can purchase a standard listing in one category for $25, a premium listing with a 50-word description for $50, or a Premium Plus listing, which includes both a 50-word description and your logo, for $100. Additional category listings (with same text) can be purchased for $25. Please send your listing as you wish it to appear with prepayment (credit card preferred) to email hidden; JavaScript is required. Your listing will appear alphabetically by last name unless you indicate that you want it to be by company name. Corrections and additions will close on 23 September. (That deadline is firm.)

Check the STC website for its newest addition—an online buyers guide and consultants directory. In addition to companies that provide technical communication products and services, the names and contact information of more than 650 technical communicators are listed who undertake single projects, ongoing programs, or perform contract work. Many of the listings include a 50-word description summarizing the individual’s strengths and expertise. The Guide & Directory is a fully searchable PDF file.

Tom Johnson of the STC Intermountain Chapter interviewed Ginny Redish at Tech Summit 09 about her award winning book, Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works. A podcast of the interview is posted on his blog at https://tinyurl.com/cse72w. Tom writes about the latest trends in technical communication in his blog, "I’d Rather Be Writing" https://www.idratherbewriting.com/

Tom also runs the Writer River: Tech Comm Social News site. Writer River is a collaborative site where technical communicators can both read and post links to interesting online content.

Excerpts from an article by Geffrey K. Pullum, head of linguistics and English language at the University of Edinburgh and co-author (with Rodney Huddleston) of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Cambridge University Press, 2002). Read the full article at https://www.chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497

April 16 is the 50th anniversary of the publication of a little book that is loved and admired throughout American academe. Celebrations, readings, and toasts are being held, and a commemorative edition has been released.

I won’t be celebrating.

Sadly, writing tutors tend to ignore this moderation, and simply red-circle everything that looks like a passive, just as Microsoft Word’s grammar checker underlines every passive in wavy green to signal that you should try to get rid of it. That overinterpretation is part of the damage that Strunk and White have unintentionally done. But it is not what I am most concerned about here.

What concerns me is that the bias against the passive is being retailed by a pair of authors so grammatically clueless that they don’t know what is a passive construction and what isn’t. Of the four pairs of examples offered to show readers what to avoid and how to correct it, a staggering three out of the four are mistaken diagnoses. “At dawn the crowing of a rooster could be heard” is correctly identified as a passive clause, but the other three are all errors:

“There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground” has no sign of the passive in it anywhere.

“It was not long before she was very sorry that she had said what she had” also contains nothing that is even reminiscent of the passive construction.

“The reason that he left college was that his health became impaired” is presumably fingered as passive because of “impaired,” but that’s a mistake. It’s an adjective here. “Become” doesn’t allow a following passive clause. (Notice, for example, that “A new edition became issued by the publishers” is not grammatical.)

The treatment of the passive is not an isolated slip. It is typical of Elements. The book’s toxic mix of purism, atavism, and personal eccentricity is not underpinned by a proper grounding in English grammar. It is often so misguided that the authors appear not to notice their own egregious flouting of its own rules. They can’t help it, because they don’t know how to identify what they condemn.

“Put statements in positive form,” they stipulate, in a section that seeks to prevent “not” from being used as “a means of evasion.”

“Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs,” they insist. (The motivation of this mysterious decree remains unclear to me.)

And then, in the very next sentence, comes a negative passive clause containing three adjectives: “The adjective hasn’t been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place.”

That’s actually not just three strikes, it’s four, because in addition to contravening “positive form” and “active voice” and “nouns and verbs,” it has a relative clause (“that can pull”) removed from what it belongs with (the adjective), which violates another edict: “Keep related words together.”

“Keep related words together” is further explained in these terms: “The subject of a sentence and the principal verb should not, as a rule, be separated by a phrase or clause that can be transferred to the beginning.” That is a negative passive, containing an adjective, with the subject separated from the principal verb by a phrase (“as a rule”) that could easily have been transferred to the beginning. Another quadruple violation.

The book’s contempt for its own grammatical dictates seems almost willful, as if the authors were flaunting the fact that the rules don’t apply to them. But I don’t think they are. Given the evidence that they can’t even tell actives from passives, my guess would be that it is sheer ignorance. They know a few terms, like “subject” and “verb” and “phrase,” but they do not control them well enough to monitor and analyze the structure of what they write.

The copy editor’s old bugaboo about not using “which” to introduce a restrictive relative clause is also an instance of failure to look at the evidence. Elements as revised by White endorses that rule. But 19th-century authors whose prose was never forced through a 20th-century prescriptive copy-editing mill generally alternated between “which” and “that.” (There seems to be a subtle distinction in meaning related to whether new information is being introduced.) There was never a period in the history of English when “which” at the beginning of a restrictive relative clause was an error.

It’s sad. Several generations of college students learned their grammar from the uninformed bossiness of Strunk and White, and the result is a nation of educated people who know they feel vaguely anxious and insecure whenever they write “however” or “than me” or “was” or “which,” but can’t tell you why. The land of the free in the grip of The Elements of Style.